Job Discussion Forums

[Capergirl]

My students believe this. It doesn't matter how many times I try to tell them otherwise. Their ESL teacher is the source for all information.

I spent the weekend with my students fielding question after question, most of them starting with, "Teacher, what does it mean when someone says....". Invariably, I have to give multiple explanations because they choose a word or phrase that has different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. During the entire drive back home in the pouring rain yesterday, one student came up with question after question. At one point, I wanted to scream, "I am not a dictionary! I am not a thesaurus! I am not a grammarian! I am not a historian! I am not an atlas!"

Ever have one of those days?

[Gordon]

Sometimes. Why do you put yourself in that situation? A whole weekend with students? Yikes. It's enough to make anyone go crazy.

[dduck]

Perhaps, you could try "I don't know. Anyone else got any ideas?".

Iain

[Alex Shulgin]

Tell them to check it for their homework and then tell the other students at the next lesson. Soon shuts the pointless questions up.

[dyak]

And I thought I had it tough with every European in my classes asking different questions at the same time... but trapped in a car...

Hot potato anyone?

[Glenski]

I wish I had students with 1/10 of the interest in the language that your students seem to. Mine can't even ask "what does this mean", despite 4-6 years of English studies! And, if they have any questions at all, they usually flip open their electronic dictionaries, tap a few keys, and come up with what I call "dictionary English". It makes for lots of gibberish in their essays, I can tell you.

I'm quite the opposite to you, Capergirl. I actually advertise that I'm a walking dictionary so the students will not rely on their electronic (or paper) ones so much and end up with such stilted or warped English.

Example from a second year HS student essay. (This is one of the most intelligible ones, by the way.)
Susan trying climb a mountain. She had been prepared outfit and condision for today's climing since last week. It is difficult for every lifes to live there. She fighting this action.

Another...
One day it was rain,and it became hard it.
The greater part of the area had been affected by flooding.
They escaped by a hairbreadth, and they were helpful.

When I asked students what this meant, using mixed English and Japanese, they couldn't answer. Not one word.

[Capergirl]

[Roger]

Well, Capergirl, your students hail from a different culture, one that's more similar to your own one where "not knowing" is not equated with "stupid".
It's a different thinking mode that is at work in Japan and China - knowledge is countable and copiable, even "language" is "knowledge".
The problem is the mindset.
Typically, Chinese (and, I suppose, Japanese) parents insist how many words their progeny must acquire to be able "to speak English".
In Chinese kindergartens, parents sometimes complain "my child is not 'studying' enough English vocables"! Parents seem to be thinking that their kid should be equipped with 10'000 English words upon completing year one! Maybe it's 5000 - but what's the difference?

[Wolf]

I do not recall Japanese students needing to have a certain number of words memorized. I do recall, however, many problems with EFL education in shcools. Not the least of which was apathy.

My students like to ask me to make generalizations. My absolute favorite is when they ask me to compare Japanese women to Chinese women. Or when the ask me wether I speak British or Amercian English (there are, of course, no differences in dialects within those two countries. And no other English dialects exist elsewhere.)

A few of my students seem to expect me to know everything as well . . . .

Edited for climate factors.

[Dr.J]

Not wanting to go off topic, but that is one of the recurring things that irk me. Japanese people aren't happy with an idea until whatever the subject is has been oversimplified. They like stuff baby simple - which is fine- except that some things just are complex.

Then comes look of pained confusion and copius 'wakaranai's...

[scot47]

Here is a question for that cute Wolfie from the scourge of EFL teachers. (aka Scot47) :

Do these Japanese kids ask weather you like the whether in Japan ?

[Wolf]

[scot47]

Students in Saudi Arabia frequently use electronic dictionaries. These are Arabic-English-Arabic, usially made in Taiwan. They have their uses but lead to sentences like "Shall I exfoliate this banana ?"

But I prefer them using an electronic dictionary to none at all.

All courses should include dictionary work. If not students will never pick up this importaat skill. It could be expanded to general reference skills.
That now has to include the internet, but of course there is resistance to that from some quarters.

[Glenski]

[Capergirl]

Good point, Glenski. As for their ages, they are 22-32 and they are employees of a major American company. The ESL course goes hand-in-hand with their technical courses here, which are all a part of their job training.